Pigmented paints

ABSTRACT

A PIGMENTED PAINT HAVING A CONTINUOUS AQUEOUS PHASE INCLUDING A BINDER OF A COPOLYMER OF ETHYLENE, A HALF ESTER OF A X,B-UNSATURATED DICARBOXYLIC ACID OR A SALT THEREOF, VINYL CHLORIDE AND VINYL ESTER IN SPECIFIED PROPORTIONS.

United States Patent Ofifice 3,651,001 PIGMENTED PAINTS Heinrich Meckbach, Leverkusen, Dietrich Glabisch, Opladen, and Herbert Bart], Cologne-Stammheim, Germany, assignors to Farbenfabriken Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, Leverkusen, Germany No Drawing. Filed Mar. 12, 1968, Ser. No. 712,393 tClaims priority, application Germany, Apr. 5, 1967, F 52,024 Int. Cl. (30% 3/00 U.S. Cl. 260-29.6 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pigmented paint having a continuous aqueous phase including a binder of a copolymer of ethylene, a half ester of a 01.,[3-I1I1S2tl113t6d dicarboxylic acid or a salt thereof, vinyl chloride and vinyl ester in specified proportions.

e.g. German Auslegeschrift No. 1,019,783).

It is also known to add auxiliary agents such as thickeners, wetting agents, protective colloids, defoarning agents, butters, plasticisers, disinfectants, preservatives and the like to the pigment emulsions or dispersions.

The classical polymers for emulsion paints are, first, polyvinyl acetate, second, butadiene-styrene copolymers and lastly, polymers of acrylic or methacrylic acid esters.

Although films of polyvinyl acetate emulsions have excellent weather resistance and resistance to light, they are extremely sensitive to water and liable to swell. On exposure to water, the film immediately loses its strength and toughness and is therefore easily damaged mechanically. Moreover, the polyvinyl acetate film is, of course, very easily saponifiable. The pigment binding capacity of these films is relatively low, i.e. with a pigment content of over 500%, the mechanical strength of such films is only slight even in the dry state.

The films of butadiene/ styrene copolymers, on the other hand, have excellent wet strength, are not saponifiable, and can be pigmented to very high pigment contents. However, they have little resistance to weathering and undergo marked yellowing on exposure to light.

Lastly, films of polymers of acrylates or especially of methacrylates are also completely light-fast and have excellent resistance to weathering and they also have better alkali resistance than polyvinyl acetate films but again they do not have a high pigment uptake capacity and are not especially abrasion resistant on exposure to water.

The strong tendency of polyvinyl acetates to swell is considerably reduced by copolymerising vinyl acetate with acrylates or preferably with methacrylates; in addition,

3,651,901 Patented Mar. 21, 1972 such copolymers are more resistant to saponification although they are by no means unsaponifiable. The wet strength thereby achieved in the films does not, however, satisfy the most stringent requirements and furthermore, the pigment binding capacity of such copolymers is only slightly better than that of pure polyvinyl acetate. The tendency to swell on exposure to water can be further diminished by employing vinyl propionate instead of vinyl acetate as homopolymer or as copolymer with acrylates or methacrylates. However, all copolymers hitherto produced from monomeric, polymerisable esters have the characteristic that the films produced from them are subject to a certain mechanical deterioration in the wet.

Attempts have also been made to improve the weather resistance of butadiene/ styrene polymers by copolymerising them with acrylates or methacrylates. However, such copolymerisations usually diminish the wet abrasion resistance of butadiene-styrene polymer films without substantially improving their weather resistance.

Although many of the emulsions mentioned here give a very good weather resistant film, these films often have a certain tackiness so that, even if they have a relatively high pigment content, paints produced from these emulsions can be observed gradually to get dirty on exposure to weathering.

Lastly, it is also known that emulsion copolymers of vinyl chloride and ethylene yield films which are relatively water-resistant and resistant to saponification while still having suflicient weather-resistance. These films have, however, the disadvantage that they cease to yield nonsticky surfaces as soon as the copolymer has relatively high ethylene contents (above 10 to 15% by weight), with the results that coats produced from them have a very strong tendency to get dirty owing to their tackiness. Furthermore, these films only have insufficient pigment binding capacity it the emulsions from which they are produced have been prepared without the use of external emulsifiers.

The object of the present invention is to produce pigmented paints which do not have the disadvantages described above and which therefore provide coats which have a good resistance to light and weathering, a very high pigment content, good alkali resistance and excellent wet abrasion resistance.

The invention relates to pigmented paints with a continuous aqueous phase, made of pigments, binders and, if necessary, auxiliary agents, characterized by containing binders of copolymer emulsions of copolymers comprising 9 to 20% by weight of ethylene, 2 to 12% by weight of a semiester of an a,B-unsaturated dicarboxylic acid the alcohol component of which preferably contains up to 8 C-atoms, and 68 to 89% by weight of a mixture of vinyl chloride and a vinyl ester of a saturated carboxylic acid with 2 to 3 C-atoms, in which the vinyl ester content should be 15 to 45% of the sum of vinyl ester and vinyl chloride.

The copolymer emulsions to be used as binders are prepared in accordance with our copending application S.N. 689,957, filed Dec. 12, 1967.

Suitable half esters of u,B-unsaturated dicarboxylic acids include those with 1 to 8 carbon atoms in the alcohol moiety, for example, the mono methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, cyclohexyl and 2-ethylhexyl esters of maleic acid,

3 fumaric acid or itaconic acid. These monomers are preferably used in the form of their Water-soluble salts, for example, sodium, potassium or ammonium salts.

Vinyl acetate and/ or vinyl propionate are conveniently used as the vinyl esters. Vinyl acetate is preferred.

The above copolymer emulsions may have solids contents of 25 to 70% by weight. Copolymers of lower solids contents can easily be concentrated by creaming or evaporation.

It is preferred to use copolymer emulsions with a solids content of 50 to 60% by weight.

In the present application, auxiliary agents are understood to mean the following:

Thickeners such as methyl cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, sodium alginate, ammonium alginate, ammonium polyacrylate or ammonium polymethacrylate etc.

Wetting agents such as, for example, addition products of or more mols of ethylene oxide with 1 mol of a phenol or a substituted phenol.

Protective colloids such as casein, starch, gum arabic, animal glue etc.

Defoaming agents such as phosphoric acid esters, longchain aliphatic alcohols, polysiloxanes etc.

Buffers such as mixtures of primary and secondary alkali metal phosphates, borax, sodium acetate etc.

Plasticisers such as adipic acid esters and phthalic acid esters, trialkyl and triaryl phosphates, glycerol esters of long-chain fatty acids.

Disinfectants and preservatives such as, for example, alkali metal salts of chlorinated phenols, aldehydes such as formaldehyde, heavy metal complexes of hydroxyquinolines etc.

Stabilisers such as epoxy compounds, esters of substituted cinnamic acids.

The following may be used as pigments:

White and coloured, inorganic or organic pigments such as lithopones, zinc sulphide, titanium dioxide, iron oxides,antimony oxide, chromium oxide, mixed oxides of cobalt/nickel and manganese, chromates such as lead chromate or strontium chromate, red lead, phthalocyanine pigments or other organic pigments etc.

The pigments may be blended in known manner with fillers such as silicic acids, silicates, sulphates, carbonates or aluminium oxide.

The paints may contain the pigments or mixtures of pigments and fillers in quantities of 100 to 1000% by weight, preferably 200 to 600% by weight, based on the binder.

The pH of the pigmented paint emulsions may be from 4 to 10, preferably 8 to 9. Adjustment of the pH is advantageously carried out by adding small quantities of bases such as ammonia or salts which when hydrolysed produce basic solutions, such as borax etc.

The pigmented paints according to the invention are produced by thorough mixing. This is advantageously carried out by making a paste of the pigments and fillers and the given wetting agents, defoaming agents, dispersing agents and preservatives as well as the amount of water required for producing a thin paste, and at the same time adding as much concentrated ammonia solution as is necessary for obtaining a final pH of 7.5 to 9. This process is advantageously carried out with the use of a high-speed stirrer. A sufficient quantity of approximately 5% by weight aqueous solution of a thickener to make the final consistency of the product pasty and suitable for painting is then added with slow stirring, and the binder is then slowly added in the form of the undiluted emulsion. If it is intended to add small amounts of plasticisers, these are added last to the finished emulsion. The individual components may also be added together in a difi'erent sequence.

Application of the pigmented paints to surfaces of wood, metals, plastics, glass, paper, brickwork, concrete, asbestos, cement etc. is carried out by the usual methods.

The pigmented paints according to the invention are distinguished by their high stability and they do not form a skin or foam.

The dry films have good weather resistance and good fastness to light and alkali resistance. They are further distinguished by having only a slight tendency to get dirty and they have excellent wet abrasion resistance. Their superiority to the usual commercial emulsions is apparent from Tables 1 and 2 in which the properties of clear films and pigmented films are compared.

The parts given in the examples are parts by weight and the percentage contents are percentages by weight unless otherwise indicated.

EXAMPLE A mixture of pigment and extender, composed of 152 parts of titanium rutile pigment, 19 parts of finest talcum, 38 parts of ground heavy spar, 160 parts of dolomite and 11 parts of precipitated CaCO is mixed by means of a high-speed stirrer with to parts of water to which 0.7 part of potassium phosphate, 3.0 parts of concentrated NH solution and 9.0 parts of a suitable 10% solution of defoaming agent ,(e.g. tributyl phosphate) have been added. When the pigment paste is homogeneously dispersed, 38 parts of a 5% aqueous solution of a methyl cellulose are added with slow stirring, followed by 380 parts of a 50% binder emulsion prepared according to Example 2 of our copending patent application S.N. 689,957, filed December 12, 1967; the copolymer consists of 11.2% by weight of ethylene, 35.8% of vinyl acetate, 49.5% by weight of vinyl chloride and 3.5% by weight of maleic acid cyclohexyl semiester. The 50% binder emulsion was obtained by creaming up the 32% by weight emulsion described in Example 2 of our copending patent application S.N. 689,957, filed Dec. 12, 1967 with ammonium alginate. The stable pigmented emulsion paint described above can either be used as such or be further dispersed before use on rollers, sand mills, perl mills, granulating mills, disintegrators or dissolvers.

Other emulsions, indicated hereinafter under Nos. l-7, were used for comparison instead of the above described binder emulsion according to the invention for the production of paints.

TABLE I I Li ht fastness Alkali e Product Weather resistance (clear (olgar films 100 (clear filr tig films on beechwood) hours Xeno test) in 10% NaOH) (1) Polyvinyl acetate 6 months severel y affected, not dirty Light fast Destr d it 1 2 u 1 oye a or day. :3; 1033132 sg l gg ot vlnyl acetate and acrylic 6 months unchanged, dirty do Impaired after 3 days.

o yviny propionate 6 t1 (4) Polyaorylic acid ester r i r i f?f very duty l I :32 Dcsmhyed after 1 day (6).... Polymethacryhc acid ester 6 months unchanged, not dirty do Sottene d after 4 weeks, (6) Copolymer of butadiene/styreno 4 months destro Otherwise unchanged.

yed V (7)..-. cgrcagllyillggi egfter butadlenelstyrene- 4 months almost destroyed slight g gll bzz iiigy yii: l if after 4 weeks (8) Polymer according to example of the 6 months unchanged, not dirty Trace of yellowing Do.

present application.

TABLE I-Continrued Quality number e Uptake of water vapour in percent by on abrasion, weight in clear films 1 after (hours)- Wet abrasion resistance of revolutions pigmented films; first damage Product 24 48 96 250 Cloudxng of clear films with water 2 after a number of revolutions 2,000 5, 000

5 seconds, very cloudy From 150 revolutions 3 40 12 14 14 10 seconds trace cloudiness From 300 revolutions 40 6 seconds very cloudy From 400 revolut1ons 25 37 7 9 12 13 6 seconds slightly cloudy From 300 revolutions 23 6 7 7. 5 7. 5 seconds trace of cloudiness... From 1,000 revolutions. 12 33 3. 5 5 6 6. 5 5 seconds slightly cloudy From 1,500 revolutions. 2 7 3. 2 3. 4 3. 2 2. 7 15 seconds trace of cloudiness..- From 4 000 revolutions 0 6 3.0 4. 3 6. 4 5. 6 17 minutes trace of cloudiness From 66,000 revolutions 0 1 Clear films were produced on glass fabric (10 x 10 cm.) by painting the surface with clear emulsion until the weight of film was 10 grams. The films were conditioned for 100 hours at relative humidity at 20 0. and then introduced into relative humidity and weighed after 24 hours, 48 hours, etc.

2 A drop of Water was placed on clear films which had been dried in air for 48 hours; the figures given indicate the time taken for cloudiness to appear and the degree of cloudiness.

3 Films pigmented in accordance with the example of the inventlon and containing 300 parts of the given mixture of pigment and extender, based in the binder (solid), were applied in strips on panels of asbestos cement and subjected to an abrasion test as indicated in Table II; the number of rovolutions after which damage to the coat of paint first occurs is indicated.

4 Abrasion of the films was assessed after 2,000 and after 5,000 revolutions, and the quality indicated as a number ranging from 0 to 40, 0 corresponding to a completely undamaged film and 40 to a completely abraded film.

6 Very high, over 20%, saponification.

Pigment content (percent by Weight) based on binder (solid) Product 300 600 900 (1) From Immediately Immediately. (2) t. F Do. (8) Number of revolutions Do. (4) after which the first Do. (5) traces of abrasion show Do. (6) on the pigmented films. From 1,600 do Do. (7) From 4,000.. From 60 Do. (8) From 66,000." From 500 From 30.

We claim: 2. The pigmented paint of claim 1 wherein the alcohol 1, A pigmented paint i h a continuous aqueous phase moiety of said half ester contains from 1 to 8 carbon which contains a binder consisting of a copolymer of (a) atomsethylene, (b) a half ester of maleic acid, fumaric acid or 40 References Clted itaconic acid or an alkali metal or ammonium salt thereof UNITED STATES PATENTS and (c) a mixture of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate or 3,265,654 8/1966 'Glabisch 260-29.'6 vinyl propionate, said mixture containing from 15 to 45% 3,296,166 1/ 1967 Whitby 260-29.6 by weight of vinyl acetate or vinyl propionate and said 3,423,353 9 evine 26029.6 T

copolymer containing from 9 to 20% by weight of co- 45 polymerized (a), 2 to 12% by weight of copolymerized JULIUS FROME Pnmary Exammer (b) and =89 to 68% by weight of copolymerized (c). GARRETT, Assistant Examiner 

